Stallions Tamed
Han Hurt
Grilled ran out easy winners at Stallions Park, but were hit by an injury to 34 year-old captain
Han Lik-Tsun that may see him out for the first three league matches of the season.
The youngsters were again given the nod in the wide positions, and
Ciro Penati did nothing for his image when he appeared to send himself flying after a minor bump by a Stallions defender in the penalty area. He would be booed by the crowd for the remainder of the match, but that affected neither him nor Rotteveel, who patiently waited for goalkeeper Zhou He in to commit himself to one side before drilling the penalty straight down the middle.
The hosts tried to make up for the gulf in class with their workrate, and held up pretty well until key midfielder Gongsun Weiqiang was cautioned for dragging Han Kok to the ground. The freekick was quickly taken by the former U-20 international, and Subri impressed with a neat takedown to slot it by Zhou to break Stallions' resistance.
A thumping header by Zoltan Árva from a Chowdhury cross followed, and the English starlet showed good feet to put in the fourth after Rotteveel was caught for simulation, to renewed catcalls. Subri silenced the stands with a swashbuckling dribble cutting the central defence apart, however, and his finish left little to the imagination.
Subri was fearless in his runs despite the close attention of several defenders, and thoroughly deserved his hat-trick after staying on his feet despite being bumped twice during the build-up. Árva then scored again with a zinger from twenty feet, but the loudest celebrations of the day were reserved for the Stallions' Omar bin Abu Samah, who was mobbed after rising over
Tao Tingfeng from a corner to deny Valdir a clean sheet.
Rotteveel had one of those days as he missed an easy floated free-kick by a hair, before
Han Lik-Tsun scored what would be his only goal for some time and Subri nabbed his 25th career Cup goal for Grilled thanks to a great dummy by Penati. Neo Wee Puay had a chance to get the Stallions faithful moving once more after robbing Deme inside his own penalty area, but tapped his shot straight at Valdir.
It was turning out to be a clean victory for Grilled, when Gongsun Weiqiang, already on a yellow, clattered heavily into
Han Lik-Tsun in injury time when he had little chance of getting the ball. A definite second yellow, but of no consolation to the Grilled captain, who limped miserably off as the final whistle went.
